One of the great names of Italian football has passed away at just shy of 80 years old in Scudetto winner and ex-Azzurri international Luigi Riva after a brief spell in hospital
ITALIAN FOOTBALL was mourning one of its most important ever players on Monday after iconic striker Luigi “Gigi” Riva died aged 79.
Nicknamed “Roar of Thunder”, Riva is Italy’s all-time top goalscorer and is famous in the Mediterranean nation for firing Cagliari to their only league title in 1970.
Cagliari said “Forever GIGI RIVA” in a short post on X, formerly Twitter, which was accompanied by a picture of their hero in the prime of his career.
“Italian football is in mourning because a genuine national monument has left us today,” said Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina.
Riva’s death is of such significance that a minute’s silence was held before the start of the second half of the Italian Super Cup final, played on Monday in Riyadh.
“Ciao Gigi” was displayed on the screens at Al-Awwal Park in the Saudi Arabian capital, alongside a picture of the deceased Riva.
“He will always be remembered for his play with ‘his’ Cagliari and the national team,” said Serie A in a short statement.
Matches across Italy from Monday until the end of the coming weekend will hold a pre-match “minute’s reflection” in honour of Riva, added the FIGC.
Riva had been in hospital in the Sardinian capital Cagliari, where he stayed after the end of his playing career, reportedly after suffering a heart attack over the weekend.
Riva scored 35 times in just 42 appearances for his country, with whom he won the 1968 European Championship and reached the World Cup final two years later.
Italy were swept aside in that final in Mexico by Pele’s Brazil, considered one of the best teams in the history of football, but he scored a key goal in the dramatic 4-3 defeat of West Germany in the last four.
Riva’s Italy career was hampered by two serious injuries, including a broken leg in 1970 which also ended Cagliari’s bid for a second straight league title.
“It’s a huge loss for me, we had been friends for a very long time, since 1967. We did military service together,” former Italy goalkeeper Dino Zoff told the AGI news agency.
Riva played almost his entire club career with Cagliari, a club more familiar with relegation than glory, despite being persistently courted by powerhouse Juventus.
He signed for Cagliari in 1963 and retired in 1976 after topping the Serie A charts three times and netting more than 200 times for the island club.
The football world has been left devastated after the death of Italian legend Luigi ‘Gigi’ Riva.
The Italian soccer federation (FIGC) confirmed on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) that Riva — Italy’s leading all-time national team goalscorer — had passed away at the age of 79.
Tributes from around the world started to flood in immediately.
“I’m shaken and profoundly saddened. Italian soccer is grieving because a real and proper national hero has left us,” FIGC president Gabriele Gravina said.
“Gigi Riva was the embodiment of a great man and an extraordinary footballer. His pride, his class and his sense of fairness united generations.
“Thanks to him we won the European Championship in 1968 and the World Cup in 2006 (as team manager).”
Riva earned his nickname because of the potency of his powerful left foot, with 35 goals in 42 appearances for Italy.
He also played in the 1970 World Cup when Italy were runners-up to the great Brazil team featuring Pele.
He had been taken ill at his home in Sardinia over the weekend and treated for a suspected heart problem.
With his near namesake Gianni Rivera, Riva was one of the poster boys of Italian soccer as colour television brought live action to a wider audience.
He was runner-up to Rivera for the Ballon d’Or trophy awarded to Europe’s best player in 1969.
Riva played almost his entire club career with Cagliari and was Serie A top-scorer when the Sardinian team won the Italian league title for the only time in their history in 1970.
He was honorary president of the club at the time of his death.
Injuries marred the latter part of his playing career and forced him to retire in 1976, having scored 164 league goals for Cagliari in 315 matches. He was Serie A top scorer three times.
Riva subsequently served for many years as a member of the backroom staff for the national team including in 2006 when Italy triumphed in Germany.
After news broke of his death, Cagliari added a black ribbon to their various accounts on social media.
They also published a picture of Riva and wrote: “Forever GIGI RIVA.”
Many other Italian clubs also paid their respects to the champion.
“No man is bigger than a club – but Luigi Riva at Cagliari comes pretty darn close. Riposa In Pace, Sempre,” one fan wrote on social media.
A minute’s silence will be held before the start of all football matches in Italy this weekend in tribute to Riva.
There was also a minute’s silence before the start of the second half of the Italian Super Cup final that was taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Monday
